A Bit of Independence Day Trivia

Yankee Doodle went to town

A-riding on a pony,

Stuck a feather in his cap

And called it macaroni.

Chorus:

Yankee Doodle keep it up,

Yankee Doodle dandy,

Mind the music and the step,

And with the girls be handy. 

There are a number of versions of the Yankee Doodle song, but that was the one I learned as a kid. However, it never made a lot of sense to me; why the heck would he call it "macaroni?" Recently, the historical novel I'm reading shed some light on the term. 

The clock in the hall struck four and Sam grimaced. "I have to go, ma'am. He wants me macaronied."

"Macaronied?" Martha asked.

"All prinked up, ma'am. I have to serve a supper party."

Bernard Cornwell, Redcoat

 Dan got out our Webster's 1828 dictionary and looked it up.

Macaroni

~ a sort of droll or fool, and hence, a fop; a fribble; a finical fellow

~ pertaining to or like a macaroni; empty, trifling; vain; affected

We also looked up:

Doodle

~ trifler, simpleton, fool

Dandy

~ a man of the human species who dresses himself like a doll

Makes one wonder why Yankee Doodle is considered a patriotic song. Well, originally it wasn't. It came from an old European ditty and was sung by British soldiers to mock the Patriots. But it backfired because the Americans were apparently too naive to know they were supposed to be offended and they adopted it as their own. Now, it's a song that never fails to conjure up images of fife, drum, and rag-tag rebel Americans who (at that time, anyway) didn't want a non-American power controlling their economy, nor a birthright aristocracy defining their culture. 

Fun trivia aside, I think the real takeaway ought to be that the two sides eventually reached an agreement and came to respect one another as world partners and allies. That was the choice both sides made. They could have continued to nurse their wrongs, demand payback, and keep up the feud. But they chose to let it go, put it behind them, and move on. It's a lesson from history we should take to heart today.

A Bit of Independence Day Trivia © July 2022

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Homemade Popsicles :)

Dan and I love dessert. We grew up in different parts of the country, but both of our families considered dessert to be part of a proper meal. So, for years, I made and served dessert after our evening meal. I cut back on the sugar and fat in most recipes, so that was good, but eventually we felt that we were still eating too much sugar anyway. So dessert became a treat for the weekend. 

Last winter, I found popsicle molds when I was out Christmas shopping. I bought two and recently started to experiment. I found that I can make a no- to low-sugar dessert that wonderfully finishes out a summer meal. 

Pureed peach popsicle from canned peaches.

These can be as simple as one ingredient, or a combination of flavors. Making them is easy too, just smash or puree a favorite fruit, sweeten if desired, pour into the mold, add the stick, and freeze.

An actual recipe isn't necessary. It's a matter of amount and consistency. My molds hold 1/3 cup per popsicle, so for the tray of four, I need 1⅓ cups ingredients that can be poured into the mold. Possibilities:

• fruit juice (including concentrates)
• pureed fruit (fresh, frozen, or canned)
• peanut butter (needs thinning - see below)
• for creamsicles: mix fruit juice with yogurt, cream, cream cheese, ricotta cheese, kefir, or chevre
• to thin if needed: cream, milk, juice
• optional crunchies: chocolate chips, puffed rice, chopped nuts, granola, coconut flakes, crushed cookies or graham crackers, etc.
• sweetening optional: maple syrup, chocolate sauce

Here are some of my experiments:

Banana peanut butter. (Dan's favorite).
It was thick, so I thinned it with cream.

Orange creamsicle: orange juice concentrate and ricotta cheese

Blueberry and peach (puree from frozen and canned fruit)

Peanut butter chocolate chip (I thinned the BP with cream & used mini-chips)

Grape creamsicle: grape juice concentrate and ricotta cheese

Chocolate banana: ripe banana & unsweetened cocoa powder

Banana, orange creamsicle, and peanut butter layered

Tutti Frutti - pureed fruit cocktail (the 100% juice kind)

Strawberry, banana, and blueberry layered

Recipe Notes:

• Ripe bananas (with dark spots) are much sweeter than green or unspotted yellow bananas.
• The chocolate banana popsicles required no extra sweetening, even with unsweetened cocoa powder added, because of the sweetness of the ripe bananas.
• For a fruity power punch flavor, fruit juice concentrate can be used. For popsicles, we like it diluted at 2:1 (instead of the recommended 3:1). 
• Pureed fruits can sometimes be a bit bland when frozen, because of ice (water) crystals. Sweetening can help, as can a tablespoon or so of undiluted fruit juice concentrate.
• The possibilities are endless. You're only limited by your imagination!

Experimenting with flavors has been a lot of fun. So far they've all been good! For my next batch, I'm going to try a PB&J flavor, using grape juice concentrate to thin the peanut butter. 

I don't know why I didn't think about making these sooner. I guess it's because, when I think of popsicles, I usually think of the artificially flavored high fructose corn syrup type they sell at the store. But they are easy to make and can be as low sugar and healthy as I want. They satisfy the dessert habit, and make for a refreshing, hydrating treat after getting hot and sweaty outside. Another good way to beat the heat!

Homemade Popsicles :) © July 2022

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Garden Notes: June 2022

Oh my. The month has flown by. I need to get my June garden post up before July gets here!

 

June rainfall

•  3rd: 0.25"
•  9th: 0.5"
• 16th: 1.125"
• 27th: 0.25"
• 29th: 0.125"
• Total: 2.25"

Temperature

• nighttime range: 58-80°F (14.4-26.6°C)
• daytime range: 80-100°F (26.6-37.7°C)

Tasks

Things I'm trying to get done before picking and preserving take all my time. 

Tying up tomato plants.

We must have 50+ cherry tomato volunteer plants. 

Mulching. I have a pretty good routine for this.

Afternoons are mulch gathering time because I can do it n the shade.

Early the following morning. I work on mulching my garden beds.

Ideally, I think mulching should be done right after a rain, to prevent the moisture from quickly evaporating out of the ground. With no rain, I water the bed thoroughly before putting down mulch.

After I finish with the beds, I need to re-do the wood chip mulch in the aisles, if I have time.

Harvesting, Preserving, and Eating

Strawberries, red raspberries, and mulberries

Mulberry pancakes

Multiplier onions

Garlic

Potatoes

Volunteer lamb's quarter

Lamb's quarter

Lamb's quarter

The lettuce started to bolt earlier this month, but I
find that Jericho doesn't get terribly bitter, even then.

Landrace cucumbers and Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes.

What are landrace cucumbers? They are my experiment to develop a locally adapted yet genetically diverse variety of cucumber for my garden.

• This blog post explains what landrace gardening is.
• This blog post tells how to do it.
• Details about my cucumber experiment are at the bottom of this post.

So far, the cucumbers are growing very well and producing tasty cucumbers.

Lots of flowers hopefully means lots of cukes. That's
good, because I need to can pickles & relish this year.

100% homegrown salad, even the salad dressing! (Recipe here.)

Seed saving

So far, I've collected seed from:

• Collards
• Kale
• Edible pod peas
• Garlic (bulbils)

One thing I don't want to cross-pollinate, is my lettuce. I have three types of lettuce growing: Jericho Romaine,  a ruffly loose leaf type, and wild lettuce. 

The loose leaf lettuce bolted in early June.
Jericho didn't start until a few weeks later.

As mentioned above, the variety I grow is Jericho, which is the most heat tolerant variety I've tried. I don't want it cross-pollinating because I don't want to lose that. According to Joseph Lofthouse in his Landrace Gardening: Food Security through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination, lettuce doesn't easily cross-pollinate. It still can, however, so to keep my strain pure, I took measures to prevent it.

Jericho lettuce. Flower heads covered to prevent cross-pollination.

I covered the flowering heads with the mesh bags I got to keep the birds from eating all my elderberries. Time will tell if this works!

Growing

Georgia Jet sweet potato vines and flower

Slicing tomatoes. Dan got four plants from a flea market.

Chicory

Moonglow pears. 

Sweet potato winter squash in the foreground (speckled leaves).

Late planting (replanting/transplanting). 

Ordinarily, I try to have all my planting done by now. Summer for us is a season where the days are hot and rain can be elusive. The sooner I can get my plants established and mulched, the less watering I have to do. We did have to replant some things that made a poor showing: melons, corn, and sunflowers. I made a second planting of summer squash and cucumbers as well.

Also, I was late on getting my homegrown sweet potato slips in the ground. I finally finished that the other day. These were planted in the African keyhole garden.

I had two types to plant. My trusty Vardamans and some from
a purple sweet potato that I originally got from Misfits Market.

The kale is a lone survivor of our cold winter.

I wanted to protect the newly planted slips from wilting, so
I watered and covered with shade cloth. That helped a lot!

Okay, that was long. But I had a lot I wanted to make note of. How about you? How does your garden grow?

Garden Notes: June 2022 © June 2022

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com